Why Is My Hot Tub Leaking From the Bottom?

Discovering that you have a leak in your hot tub is never a fun time, no question.  But, do you know what’s even worse?  Not discovering you have a leak until 3 months later and then having extensive water damage that is going to cost you a fortune and a whole lot of heartache.  From detecting a leak to understanding the problem is, here are some essential details to diagnose your hot tub issue and then get someone in to fix it as soon as possible!  The more you can tell them, the better, too.

Location is important
    When you discover that your hot tub is leaking from the bottom, understanding where on the bottom the leak is coming from is crucial.  Don’t just take one look at the pooling and decide that’s where the leak is coming from.  Water is notorious for running and spreading, so you’ll need to be careful to seek out the location of the water leak from your tub specifically.  Common issues include:

• Pumps: For the most part, a leaking pump is often the main reason for a bottom-based leak.  You’ll know if it's leaking by inspecting the shaft seal or the unions.   If those have water pooling, you can be pretty sure it’s the pump.
  

• Light casings: LED lights in your fantastic hot tub are great, but they’re also prone to leaking.  This is because they are in niches that have weaknesses in them.  Over time, these will wear and loosen and water can seep out.  If water is running from the edges around your light access, this is a good sign that there’s an issue.
  

• Filter leaks: Filters are crucial for your enjoyment of your time in your hot tub, but they can be known to leak, especially because they rely a lot of gaskets (more on that in the next section).  If you have an older filter, this is especially more likely, too, as they often take a lot of wear and tear!
  

    If you have a good quality hot tub, it’s unlikely that you have a crack in the actual hot tub itself.  They are intended to be especially strong and are reinforced for this particular reason.  However, if you can’t spot an obvious sign of water leakage but you know it is leaking, it might be a good idea to check as carefully as possible inside the tub for obvious signs of wear.

Plumbing can cause issues
    Sometimes it’s not a part of the hot tub itself, but the plumbing!  It could be a frozen pipe, which can commonly happen.  Or, it could be something simple like or rings or gaskets.  Anything with these parts can leak and that’s part of why proper maintenance and check-ups are so important.  

    Whatever the issue may be, it’s not a good idea to fix it yourself.  Hot tubs are specialized equipment that require equally specialized repair and addressing, so you’ll always want to bring in the pros to help you out as soon as possible.